Unexpected
by kireiscorner
Summary: It was to the point where no one could stand him. He was being immature, a complete child. So why did she let herself play along?


**Title: The Unexpected**

 **Rating: T (for language, but its fluffy goodness)**

 **Prompt: During a fight, Mephisto uses a little word play, and Talia finds herself slowly joining in… (for lovinglapislazuli)**

 **Length: 1770 words**

 **Summary: It was to the point where no one could stand him. He was being immature, a complete child. So why did she let herself play along?**

Screams echoed through the night as they dodged raining ruby and emerald crystals, rolling in the grassy floor of the woods. This was the last thing she needed. She winced as she propped herself up on her elbows, her icy strands splayed across the ground. She frowned as Auriana helped a weakening Iris stand. The poor princess was still recovering from awakening Shanila, and though her magic was stronger than ever, it left her drained.

Talia had promised her a day off, but the twins were relentless in their games. Gramorr knew they would need time for Iris to recover, and was taking advantage of it left and right.

"Amaru! Do it now!" Talia ordered, struggling to see in the darkness of the night. The violet creature nodded, summoning the arena of which they had grown accustomed.

The ground shook as their enemy landed in front of them, Praxina and Mephisto standing by in amusement. Talia glared as Praxina let out a laugh, "This is much more fun than I thought it would be!"

"I know right! I guess you could say it's quite pheasant."

"I swear to Ephedia, Mephisto, I will kill you." Praxina glared. She groaned as her brother cracked up beside her. During their time in this realm, Mephisto had taken to trying out new hobbies to entertain himself, and to her annoyance, herself as well. She had opted he switch to reading, a much quieter option than his battle with bugs in their cavern. Leave it to Mephisto to chose the most annoying book known to man. His endless jokes have been driving her mad for three days now, and taking her frustrations out on little princesses was exactly what she needed, "Destroy them!"

The twins grinned as the large creature attacked. Its wings expanded and it let out a hoot, sending destructive waves their way. Talia flew back, groaning as her ears rang. She barely managed to dodged the beast as it launched its feathers at her. She quickly dodged the onslaught, taking to the floating islands around the arena.

Auriana quickly moved to protect herself, "Crystarmum!"

Orange crystal shielded the strawberry blonde as claws raked across it. Iris managed to dodge the beast, only to be attacked by Praxina and Mephisto.

"Crystal Retrosive!" Praxina and Mephisto were quick to escape Talia's attack, allowing Iris to join her team.

"Owl take care of her!" Mephisto grinned, launching green crystals through the air. Talia leaped from her spot, rolling onto her knees.

"I said enough! Quit it!" Praxina growled, narrowly avoiding Auriana's spell.

"Alright, alright. No need for the fowl mood, sis." Mephisto crossed his arms. Praxina let loose a tempered shriek, clenching her fist before firing at him, sending him to the floor.

"Ow! Praxina!"

"What just happened?" Iris rose a rosy brow in confusion.

"I don't know, but I like where this is going." Auriana grinned, creating a wall of defense against their feathered attacker.

"Praxina's just being a killjoy…" Mephisto grumbled, rubbing at his now bruised bottom.

"You try listening to your stupid puns for 92 hours straight!" she growled, rubbing at her temples.

"My puns are great! I'm a force to be reckoned with!" he grinned, pleased with himself.

The girls sent him unimpressed stares, with even the creature cocking its head in disapproval.

"Screw you guys, Gramorr thinks I'm funny." The violet haired villain pouted, crossing his arms in a huff.

"No he doesn't! He threatened to feed you to Banes!" Praxina growled, rolling her eyes as the princesses laughed. Noting her brother's continuous count she sighed, " Fine! Be a force with someone else! I've got a gem to win!" Praxina glared, taking flight before landing on the winged monster.

"Oh no you don't!" Auriana glared, "Ribbon of Volta!"

Summoning her weapon, she whipped it at the birds ankle, pulling at it.

"Uh oh! Whoa!" she yelped as the creature took off, "Girls! A little help! Whooooa!"

"Auriana!" Iris and Talia called after her, running in her direction.

"Not so fast!" Mephisto smirked, blocking the colorful duo, "Hoo said you could go?"

"Ohmygod. Stop." Iris cringed as Talia's lip twitched into an amused smirk.

"Oh come on, Iris, I'm a hoot!" Mephisto grinned, firing off emerald shards.

The girls separated, sliding out of reach.

"Now I see why Praxina was so antsy. And it's only been two minutes!" Iris groaned, firing back her own. "You know what, she probably really needs my help."

"Iris…"

"She was hanging from that thing, and you know I love you, but…"

"Iris." Talia cringed, shielding herself from Mephisto.

"I should really check on Auriana."

"Iris! Just go!" Talia groaned, dodging the sharp edges of pine that shot from beneath the earth, "I'll catch up!"

"On it!" Iris giggled, chasing after the trio above, summoning her blade.

Talia sighed, only to be caught off guard at the swing of Mephisto's blade. She cursed as she stumbled back, "Staff of Xeris!"

She caught his next blow, glaring at him in the process. She took at him, but he spun out of her reach.

"Too slow! What's the matter? Tired, Talia?" He grinned as her teeth clenched, and she swept his feet from under him.

"Haven't you two heard of sleep? Or do you just enjoy obsessing over us?" Talia spun her staff around, releasing the blades.

"Hoo cares about your needs? We'll do whatever it takes to get that sapphire!" Mephisto struck at her, and she nearly rolled her eyes.

"How about putting an end to your crappy jokes! I'm all for word play, but your attempts are just sad." She smirked, blocking his hits.

"My jokes are perfection!"

She grinned at the slight crack in his voice. Messing with the twins was one thing, but teasing Mephisto was another. Unlike his sister, he was much more defensive, and his comebacks were laughable at best. It was always a pleasure making him feel as idiotic as he really was, with his tights and capes. And he had the nerve to make fun of their uniforms!

"Classic case of denial. Ignoring the obvious, right?"

"I guess it just flew over my head." He chuckled, shooting crystals her way.

"Lemme guess, you missed the cuckoo's nest?" She shielded herself, wincing a bit.

"I'd say I'm on top of my game." He sliced at her shield, shattering it. Talia gave him a swift kick to the side, sending him stumbling back.

"Ouch! You're a tough chick…."

"That's clawful."

He froze, gaping her, pools of green staring into her. She blushed heavily, her smirk falling from her face.

"Did you just-"

"Nope."

They stared at each other, and her embarrassment began to overwhelm her. She felt like a child, and berated whatever part of her desired to join him in his absurdity. She felt her heart leap as waves of laughter rolled off of him, his arms wrapped around his sides as he doubled over. She gave him an unamused frown.

"Oh…oh God! Talia, how could you?" He threw his head back, and she was taken aback at the joy on his face, "That…that was terrible!"

She bit her lip, "You mean it was 'clawful'?"

"Totally clawful." He laughed, gasping between his laughter.

She gave a toothy grin as he struggles to stand, and she found herself admiring how he actually looked like a decent human being when he enjoyed himself. It wasn't his typical shit-eating grin or his arrogant smirk he liked to parade. He seemed younger, innocent even, almost…nice.

"Sweet chilli peppers, I didn't see that coming! Talia, the Princess of Xeris-ly bad puns!" He wiped away a tear as he eased back into his regular breathing.

She frowned, "I get it, it sucked, can we go back to fighting now?"

"Aw, come on, it was funny! I swear! You're just not the kind of person I expected to say something like that! It was kinda cute, actually." He gave a nervous look, putting his hands up ready for her to attack him.

Her boiling anger at his comments ceased as his words sunk in, and the heat slowly made its way to her cheeks, her lips parting in surprise. He seemed to take notice of his own words and her present shock as he flushed, swallowing slowly.

"That is…you know…" He struggled to find the right words. That was certainly not what he had meant to say, and the fact that she had heard it was disastrous. He fumbled for an insult, craving every way to rid her of that doe eyed stare.

"I-Well, that is, I-!" He was cut short as Praxina flew into him, knocking them a good distance away. The twins glared as Iris and Auriana joined Talia, and the three nodded in mutual agreement, turning to the feathered beast."

With the power of their realms they destroyed it, saving the innocent creature of the night from the dark hypnotic clutches of the twins' magic. Growling, Praxina threw the blame on her brother, with Mephisto throwing the blame on the blue hair princess before joining his furious sibling. Iris managed to collect the crown jewel, sending it back home.

"What was that about?" Iris smiled, finally taking in a breath of the dewy air in relief. Auriana scooped up Amaru, as the arena faded away and their clothing returned to their sleepwear.

"What was what about?" Talia frowned, heading out of the forest.

"You guys were laughing an awful lot. Of he hadn't been laughing all crazy we wouldn't have gotten the best of Praxina and her cuckoo bird thingy!" Auriana tapped at her chin, following behind her.

"Trust me, Mephisto was just being his usual crazy self. That's all. I'm tired, let's head home." Talia stated, though she didn't dare turn around. Her mind was still on the memory of the boy and her flushed cheeks would send Auriana in a fit over star crossed lovers or some other ridiculousness. She knew letting her loose in the library was a bad idea.

The last thing she needed was Auriana and Iris believing in something that didn't exist whatsoever. She just wanted to sleep. So he called her cute; he was just trying to get out of being called out for his total rudeness. And his smile turned out to be normal, nothing worth thinking about. He was crude and stupid; a rival in the game of war. He tried to take it back too. She wouldn't take it all out of context of course, but the constant pounding in her chest didn't help her any.

It didn't help at all.


End file.
